LOS ANGELES.–Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, 73, visited 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine War, slapping 81-year-old President Joe Biden in the face. Biden hoped to cobble together a coalition against Putin for his invasion, Biden likes to call a naked imperial land grab. Biden insists the war in Ukraine was “unprovoked and justified” when, in fact, Putin tried but failed to get Biden to discuss new security arrangements for Ukraine other than Biden supplying Kiev unlimited cash-and-weapons to battle the Kremlin. Biden hit Putin with everything but the kitchen sink in the war of U.S. and European Union sanctions, saying he would impose crippling economic sanctions to drive Putin out of Ukraine. Nearly two-and-a-half years into the war, Putin has taken 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, killed thousands and bankrupted the country.
Biden’s economic sanctions on Putin boomeranged, hitting the U.S. hard when a Russian oil embargo backfired, leaving the U.S. with the worst inflation in over 40 years. Biden drove Putin and Modi into the closest economic relationship in post-WW II history, with Putin selling more petroleum and natural gas into Indian markets than ever before. Biden thought India and China would join the Russian oil embargo, causing catastrophic damage to the Russian economy, something that never happened. Biden can’t accept that Russia’s key allies and trading partners want no part of his war with Kremlin but remain neutral on the war, wishing it would end but unwilling to blame one side of the other. Chinese President Xi Jinping, 71, said the Biden provoked the war by continuing to supply lethal arms to Ukraine, posing a national security threat on the Russian border.
Biden though he had such close relations with India that Modi would denounce Putin for the Ukraine War and participate in global sanctions against the Kremlin. Biden found out that Modi does what’s best for India, including buying below-market Russian oil, something Putin is more than happy to sell to India, China, Brazil, South Africa and other countries around the globe. “This is evident in India’s relatively low key presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization last year, and now the decision by Modi not to attend this year’s event in Astana, Kazakhstan,” said Chietigj Bajpaee, senior South Asian fellow at the U.K.-based Chatham House. Regardless of India attending this year’s conference, Modi readily buys cheap Russian oil because it’s good for India’s economy. Whatever border disputes India has with China, Modi has no problem buying Russian oil.
Putin has cleverly outmaneuvered Biden, just like he did in 2015 when Biden was Vice President and the Obama White House funded proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Biden wholeheartedly supported proxy war against al-Assad but was foiled by Putin when he decided to protect al-Assad. Obama and Biden’s proxy war in Syria killed some 500,000 Syrians, drove 15 million into exile into neighboring countries and Europe. Obama and Biden failed Syrian policy practically broke the European Union when Great Britain decided to leave the European Union with Brexit in 2016. Most voters agreed that the EU was forcing too much Mideast immigration on EU states. Former German Chancellor Angel Merkel, 69, took more that 1 million Syrians into Germany, pressuring other EU countries like Hungary into accepting Mideast refugees.
Biden’s Ukraine policy has been far more destructive, expecting NATO to back his proxy war against the Kremlin, yet deciding to only fund Ukraine’s war, not commit boots-on–the-ground. Biden continues to supply Ukraine billions in war aid, insisting that the U.S. and Kiev will defeat the Russian Federation. No one in NATO or the EU believes that Biden will defeat Putin but go along with Biden’s losing war. Watching China and India become close economic, military and strategic allies has turned the post WW II order on its head. Every U.S. president since WW II worked diligently with the Kremlin to reduce nuclear arms and develop cooperative, pragmatic relations. Biden is the first and only U.S. president since WW II to go to war against the Kremlin. Once thought unthinkable, Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine has destabilized world peace.
Biden’s Ukraine War has undermined U.S. foreign relations and national security, driving China and India into a close economic, military and strategic alliance. Instead of joining Biden’s sanctions against Putin, Modi has done the opposite, buying Russia oil at unprecedented levels. Biden’s left holding the bag, knowing half the world’s population continues to support the Kremlin, regardless of the Ukraine War. Biden harmed the U.S. economy by boycotting Russia oil, fueling the worst inflation in over 40 years. “We kind of see Putin going on a nostalgic trip—you know, he was in Vietnam, he was in North Korea,” said Theresa Fallon, an analyst at the Center for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies. “In my view, he’s trying to demonstrate that he’s not a vassel to China, that he has options, that Russia is still a great power,” showing that Biden failed to alienate Putin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
